A Remedy
by THISISAGIRAFFE
Summary: "She had kissed Pete. She'd told him that she loved him. Why had she said that when she knew it wasn't true?" Myka deals with the mistake she made during 'Endless'. A Bering & Wells fic that attempts to solve the horror that was the Pyka at the end of season 5.
1. Chapter 1

**So like many people I disliked all the Pyka they shoved into Season 5 so I've written a little story to remedy it. Please R&R! :)**

It had just gone dark by the time they got back to the B&B. It had been a long and emotional for them all, so they were passing yawns around as they traipsed sluggishly through the front door. "Pizza?" suggested Claudia wearily. The others nodded silently.

"I'll make some tea," suggested Myka, heading into the kitchen while the others collapsed onto the soft, inviting, sofas in the living room. In passing, Pete's hand gently caressed Myka's hip and he smiled at her, sleepily. She smiled back, but her stomach felt weird as she did so. The kitchen was quiet - she liked it; it was refreshingly cool too - the cold woke her up a little and was rather soothing. Leaning against the cool counter, she took a big deep breath, sighed heavily, and tried to let out all the tension that seemed to have built up inside of her over the past few hours. What had she done? Her mind was in overdrive, scrambling around the complex emotions of the day; her body ached all over, and she felt sick to her stomach. What had she done? "Pull it together Myka," she said aloud to herself, speaking quietly so that the others wouldn't hear. Another deep breath in... and out... . She twisted round and placed both her hands flat on the counter, lowering her head to stare at the wooden surface, trying to calm her breathing and to work out how she was feeling. She counted her breaths for a few moments, reaching fifteen before deciding that her breathing was sufficiently normal again, then she picked up the kettle and went to the sink to fill it. As she stood there, gazing out of the window, envying the tranquil trees dancing peacefully in the slight breeze, Pete came up behind her and slipped his hand around her waist, making her jump, and rested his chin on her shoulder.

"What pizza do you want?" he asked - a rather unromantic question but then it was Pete! He turned his head and kissed her on the neck. Her breath caught in her throat for a moment, but then she turned around, quickly enough to remove Pete's hands as she did so.

"Actually, I'm not really that hungry," she said, before she could even think about it, "I am exhausted though, so I think I'm just going to go straight to bed." She noticed Pete's face drop slightly.

"Are you ok?" he asked, "I really think you should eat." He looked genuinely concerned and reached out to hold her hips again. This time Myka dodged him.

"I'm just really tired," she said, "And I'll eat this." She picked up an apple from the dish on the side and took a large, overenthusiastic, bite. "Can you make tea for the others?" she asked, gesturing to the now full kettle that she had left beside the sink. Pete looked like he was about to say something, but then just nodded. Myka turned her head to let him kiss her on the cheek before she bid a quick goodnight to the others and retreated to the private sanctuary of her own room, discarding the half eaten apple into the wastepaper bin in the hallway.

She collapsed heavily on to her bed, but it didn't feel quite as soft and warm as it usually did. She wriggled around a bit trying to get comfortable, pulling off her sweater and dangling her legs over the edge of the bed so that when she pushed off her shoes they fell to the floor with a clunk. Normally she would have tidied them up, tucking the toes neatly under the gap between the bottom of the chest of drawers and the deep green carpet; but tonight she just didn't have the energy. She dragged her heavy legs back onto the bed and lay there on top of the covers, still in her work clothes, staring into space, her mind momentarily blank from tiredness. However, after just a few minutes, the sound of laughter coming from downstairs prompted a tidal wave in Myka's mind. The feeling that she hadn't been able to name, but that had been following her around all afternoon, hit her like a brick falling from the sky. Dread. That's what it was. A dull pulsing ache that managed to be simultaneously in the pit of her stomach, and her head, as well as in every other inch of her body. It filled her up and wiped her out. She was so upset that she didn't even know what she was upset about. She felt unwelcome tears forming in her eyes - she blinked them away. She shook her head, bringing herself back to the real world. This is where rational, methodical, Myka came into play. She slowly and painfully replayed each and every moment of her strenuous day. She remembered seeing that image of her face projected by the table - the far off smile that reached her eyes as well as her mouth. She recognised the emotion and it made her heart flutter a little but then, when she remembered Steve's comment, the feeling of dread sunk back in. Pete. That's where all of this had come from. She'd kissed Pete. She'd told him that she loved him. Why had she said that when she knew it wasn't true? Immediately guilt was swimming around with the dread; regret crept up and covered her like a heavy blanket. Then all of a sudden, she heard the door handle turn, so she quickly closed her eyes, pretending to be asleep, not wanting to have any sort of conversation with anybody right now.

She heard the door open and footsteps, trying and failing to be light, entering the room; she fought the urge to look to see who was there. Then there was silence again but she stayed still, feigning sleep in case the visitor was still there. They were. She listened carefully to the footsteps as they walked over to her bed, and concluded that it was Pete - it made sense that he would want to check up on her. She tried even harder to appear so be asleep, unsure of what he might do. Because her eyes were closed, her lids glowing red from the celling lamp which was still shining, her other senses were heightened. She heard Pete sigh a little, confirming that it was him who had entered her room. She felt him moving around beside her bed, then his footsteps trailed over to the other side of her room, then back to her bed. She felt a waft of cold air, then the warm, soft, weight of her favourite blanket settling on top of her. Then Pete's warm breath was on her face. He kissed her lightly on the forehead before carefully slipping out of the room, turning off the light and gently closing the door behind him. Immediately her eyes flickered open and glanced around the room. In the dim light coming through the window she could just make out that her shoes had been tucked neatly under the chest of drawers, and her jumper had been moved off the floor - she couldn't quite see where it had gone. She pulled the comfortable blanket tighter around her body, only just realising that she'd been cold before, and then she started to cry. She cried because Pete was such a wonderful person. He had tidied up her room and tucked her into bed. There was no question that he loved her immensely. She cried because she didn't, and couldn't, love him back. And she cried because she knew exactly why that was, and it scared her.

Myka pushed the fear to the back of her mind, in fact, she forced away all her emotions and she started to pack. She had always promised herself that she would never leave again, never run, but in this case she decided that her staying would hurt the others, especially Pete, more than her leaving. She carefully folded some of her clothes into a large rucksack, adding in her toothbrush, some books and her laptop. She wasn't going to leave forever - the Warehouse was her home - but she did need some time away to get her head strai... urm... well... sorted. As soon as Pete discovered that she had been lying about loving him, he would be furious, or devastated, or both; it would be easier on everyone if Myka wasn't around when that happened.

The next morning, Claudia trudged down the stairs, heavy with sleep. She went into the kitchen to pour herself some coffee from the pot that Myka always made when she first got up. Myka was always the first one awake, often because she had usually been the first one to go to bed; Claudia and Pete liked to stay up late and mess around watching movies or playing video games. But when Claudia reached for the pot, she noticed it was empty, in fact, when she glanced around the room, she realised that there was no sign that anyone had been down here since last night. She shrugged, assuming Myka had just slept in after yesterday's craziness, or maybe she was in Pete's room! Claudia set to making some coffee, it wouldn't be long until Artie arrived for their morning briefing; when she turned around she noticed a neat white envelope leaning up against the fruit bowl on the other counter. She picked it up, intrigued, and noticed that there were actually two identical envelopes; one had "The whole team" written neatly across the centre in Myka's tidy, precise, handwriting, the other said "Pete".

Suddenly Claudia was nervous, why had Myka left these letters here? Had she gone somewhere? Still carrying the unopened envelopes, Claudia went back upstairs quietly. She knocked gently on Myka's bedroom door. When there was no answer she knocked again, harder. Still no answer, so she carefully pushed open the door and peered through. The room appeared empty so she went in and looked around. Myka's bed was neatly made, pillows propped up against the headboard; the curtains were open and the sunlight streamed through the windows lighting up the room. She noticed that the wardrobe door was hanging open so she looked in - it wasn't completely empty but it was obvious that lots of Myka's clothes had gone. Taking a closer look at the room she realised that there were several books missing from the shelf and that Myka's laptop was gone. Claudia's heart was beating really fast now, she wasn't sure what was happening but she knew that it wasn't good. She rushed back into the hallway and loudly knocked on the others' doors to wake them up. Pete and Steve both emerged from their rooms bleary-eyed and still in their pyjamas. "What's up Claud?" asked Pete.

"I don't know!" exclaimed Claudia, flapping her arms about. Then she remembered about the envelopes that she was holding. She shoved Pete's into his confused hands, then ripped open the other one rather frantically. She read it out loud:

_Hi guys,_

_I'm really sorry. That's the first thing. I'm really really sorry. But I have to go. I just need some time. I'm not leaving forever like before, I'm just taking some time off; surely I'm due a holiday. Keep up the good work while I'm away. _

_You are all so special to me,_

_Myka_

When she finished they all had a look of complete and utter shock. What was going on? Claudia and Steve looked at Pete expectantly, he opened his envelope. Tears welled up in his eyes. "What the hell?" he said, blinking furiously. Claudia and Steve looked at each other and then at Pete, startled. Pete shoved the letter at them then stormed back into his room. Claudia cautiously unfolded the crumbled piece of paper. It simply said:

_I'm sorry._

_ Myks_

She showed it to Steve, they were both speechless. What was happening?

Once Artie had arrived, and Claudia and Steve had solemnly explained to him what had happened, he called Pete downstairs so that they could work out what to do. Tensions were high so they sat around the table arguing about where Myka may have gone, not even broaching the topic of why. Pete was yelling about whether she was more likely to go to her parents' or her sister's, when they were all surprised by someone clearing their throat in the doorway. They jumped when they saw Mrs Frederick standing there, watching them. They all went silent, and Mrs Frederick slowly stepped into the room, glancing at Claudia's laptop which was displaying Myka's personnel file and a map of Colorado. The faces of the team were tired and stressed, Pete's eyes were red, but still they looked at her expectantly, hoping that she would have a quick and simple solution to their problem.

"Good morning," she said politely, "I assume that you are trying to locate Agent Bering?" They all nodded.  
>"There must be some artifact-y locator device right?" said Pete frantically, "I mean, there must be! Right? We can find her and get her back and all go back to normal," he babbled, until Mrs Frederick's stare stopped him and he went silent again.<p>

"I have spoken to Myka myself," she announced to the others' surprise, "and I have granted her permission for some time off work."

"WHAT?" Claudia, Pete and Steve shouted simultaneously. Even Artie looked taken aback.

"I have given her some time off," repeated Mrs Frederick, "You are all to go about your work as normal." Pete opened his mouth to interrupt again, rising from his chair, but then slumped down again, giving up.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks for reading so far. This story will probably be about 5 chapters. Here's number 2. Let me know what you think!**

Myka pulled over to the side of a silent, dusty, road to watch the sunrise. She had been driving aimlessly for several hours, not focussed enough to decide where she was going. It wasn't until she stopped the car that she finally wiped away the tears that were still streaming down her face. Stationary, on the side of a road in the middle of nowhere South Dakota, she finally allowed herself to think about what was happening. She had kissed Pete, told him that she loved him. But why? Because Steve said she did? Because of her face in that memory? Because she was scared of losing the Warehouse and everyone in it? Maybe it was all of these things put together. But it was a lie, she didn't mean it. Helena. It was Helena who made her stomach flip circles; who made her smile just by thinking about her; who she missed like a dull, constant, ache. But Helena was living in Wisconsin, all settled down with a job and a new girlfriend - apparently it wasn't serious, but Myka still didn't like it. She clearly didn't feel the same way about Myka as Myka did about her. Except there were times, when they still worked together, that Myka really thought there might be something between them, that Helena might feel the same spark that she did. But then she disappeared, found herself a 'normal' life. Myka could never giver her that.

Helena was startled awake when her cell phone rang at 6:30am. She rolled over, rubbing her eyes and looked to see who was calling at such a ridiculous hour. Myka. Her heart skipped a beat, it must be something serious for Myka to be calling so early. She simultaneously answered the phone and switched on the lamp, blinking to adjust her eyes to the brightness. "Myka?" she said drowsily, "is everything ok?" She was jolted into alertness when she heard a clear sob on the other end of the phone. "Myka?" she asked again, full of concern as she twisted to sit on the edge of her bed. She could hear Myka crying. "Shhh, shhh," she said into the phone, not sure what to say, "Calm down. It's ok. Breathe! Tell me what happened."

"Helena," whimpered Myka, "I messed up." Then she dissolved back into hysterical, hiccupping, tears. Helena felt like crying for her, this wasn't some big artifact-y mess where the world was in danger and they needed to save the day; this was Myka scared and upset.

"Ok Myka, where are you?" she said, sounding calm despite the worry in her gut.

"Urm...a gas station," said Myka, her voice wobbling, "Kind of near Sioux Falls I think." Helena thought for a moment.

"Are you ok to drive?" she asked. Myka said that she was. "Ok then, shall we meet in Minneapolis. I'll text you the address of a café and we'll talk. How about that?" she suggested softly.

"Ok," said Myka quietly, her crying seemed to have subsided for now.

"Promise me you'll drive carefully. Stop for a rest if you need to. Ok?"

"Yeah." Myka whispered sadly, "I'll see you soon."

"In a couple of hours," added Helena before hanging up the phone. Her stomach felt peculiar, she was worried about Myka driving all that way if she was upset, but she quickly shoved a few bits and pieces into a bag, used her phone to send an email to her boss saying that she wouldn't be coming in to work, then she jumped the car.

The Warehouse team were not feeling their sunniest. They were shelving and writing reports in almost complete silence; the sound of Claudia tapping away on the computer keyboard. At one point Pete threw down his pen angrily and stormed out of the office towards the stacks. Claudia got up to follow him, but Steve told her to wait, to give him a moment. Twenty minutes later when Pete still hadn't returned, Claudia saved the file she was working on and went to find him. It didn't take her long, she went straight to the Pete-Cave and found him there, slouching in the old brown armchair, repeatedly bouncing a ball off the wall. He didn't look up when Claudia came in. "What?" he asked furiously, bouncing the ball so hard that it veered off and crashed into the drum kit making a catastrophic series of bangs and crashed. Pete stared at the collapsed kit, tears streaming down his face. Claudia sighed heavily and sat down on a beanbag without saying anything.

"She's gone," said Pete tearfully after a few seconds of silence, "She's really gone." Claudia looked down at the floor, completely unsure of what to say.

"Not forever," she said, "We all know what it's like to need a break from this place."

"I don't think it's the Warehouse, Myka loves this place. It's me," he sighed, scuffing his foot along the floor angrily. "She kissed me, she told me that she loved me, and then she left. That's all there is too it." He sighed. "I knew it was too good to be true."

Myka sat in the small Minneapolis coffee shop, biting her lip and twisting her hair. She'd ordered herself a coffee because she was rather exhausted, but she hadn't drunk any of it, she had been subconsciously shredding a paper napkin into a little pile on the table, waiting nervously for Helena to arrive. She wasn't really sure what she was going to say to her, she kept thinking and rethinking the possibilities, but she knew that in the end she wouldn't have much control over what she said, she was known for blabbering a little when she was upset. She was getting a few funny looks from the other patrons and the staff; a tired looking woman with red puffy eyes sitting alone and not drinking anything, but she forgot all of that the moment that Helena walked through the door. She stood up and wrapped her arms tightly around her friend, breathing in her comforting smell. Helena rubbed her back reassuringly, but this just made Myka start crying again. She sobbed into Helena's shoulder, her breathing out of control. Helena could feel the desperation in Myka's tight hold. She continued rubbing her back softly for a few minutes, then she gently lifted Myka's chin so that they were facing each other. She saw Myka's eyes, red and puffy; her face, pale and blotchy. What had happened to make her this upset?

When Myka had calmed down slightly, Helena fetched herself a coffee and, after a second thought, bought two bear claws because she guessed that Myka would be hungry. She pushed one of them in front of Myka who looked at it uncertainly for a second, then took a big bite, smiled, and devoured it quickly. Helena smiled as she watched her eat, she slowly ate her own breakfast in silence. She giggled slightly because Myka had a few crumbs stuck to the side of her mouth. Helena leaned forward and used one finger to carefully brush them away. Myka blushed, but tried to hide it by draining the rest of her coffee in one go. Then she yawned heavily, rubbing her tired eyes. "Have you been up all night?" Helena asked sympathetically. Myka nodded wearily, and then her face dropped as she remembered everything that had happened. Helena saw the sadness and distress wash over Myka's face. "Come on then," Helena stood up and tucked her chair back under the table, "Let's find a hotel so that you can get some rest." Myka looked at her, unsure, then stood up, picked up her bag, and followed Helena. She was in a complete daze while Helena found a room in a small hotel a couple of streets away. She was miles away as Helena guided her to their room. As soon as she saw the big, white bed she collapsed immediately onto it and fell asleep within seconds.

Helena smiled a little when she saw that Myka had fallen asleep. It was good, she clearly needed some rest. Plus she looked beautiful when she slept; so peaceful. Helena checked her cell phone for the time, and she discovered three missed calls and 4 texts. She listened to the voicemail messages first.

"Good morning Baby. Wake up and answer your door. I'm outside with coffee. I'm really sorry that we fought last night. I'm an idiot."

"Baby? You're not answering the door so I'm assuming you've gone into work early. Text me to let me know. Please don't be mad about last night. Can I take you for lunch later?. Or breakfast if you've been working all night? I'm sorry babe."

"Helena. I called you're office and they said there's been an emergency? Are you ok? Why aren't you calling me back? I'm really sorry that we argued. It was stupid. I didn't mean the things I said. I love you. Please call me!"

She read the texts and they all said similar things to the voicemails. They were all from Giselle, her girlfriend. She looked at Myka sleeping peacefully, then at her phone, then back at Myka. 'My friend needs me. H' she typed, then she put her phone on silent, and put it back in her bag. She wasn't quite sure what else she wanted to say to Giselle yet. They'd had a massive argument last night, she couldn't even remember what it was about. Helena yawned. She was tired too, more from the amount of driving and worrying she'd already done this morning than the lack of sleep. She glanced around the room, deciding that the hard wooden chair she was sitting in was too uncomfortable to nap in, but the only room she'd been able to book at such short notice was a double. So she slipped off her shoes and her jacket and climbed onto the bed and closed her eyes. She was a little startled when she felt Myka snuggle up to her, tucking her head under Helena's chin. She wasn't complaining though, she liked the feel of Myka's heartbeat and the sound of her breath. It was calming; comforting.

Myka was utterly disorientated when she woke up and found herself in an unfamiliar room. She realised that she was curled up with another person, it was Helena. She sighed. This must be a dream then. Still, the rise and fall of Helena's chest as she slept, mesmerised her, she just couldn't take her eyes away. It took a few minutes for her brain to get into gear, then she remembered everything that had happened. The Warehouse almost moving, her revelation to Pete, realising that she had been wrong, calling Helena. Then this wasn't a dream! She really was in bed with this woman. Wow! She took a deep breath, savouring the time wrapped up with Helena. But then she climbed out of the bed, as carefully and quietly as she could. She went into the bathroom and stared at herself in the mirror. She looked terrible. It was clear that she had been crying, her eyes were red and there were tear streaks down her cheeks. She splashed her face with water, using the complimentary soap to wash away the dirt and weariness. She went back into the bedroom to fetch her hairbrush to tame the tangled mess that she called her hair. "Morning," she heard from behind her as rummaged through her bag. She whipped her head around. Helena was sitting up, resting on the headboard, smiling blearily. "You got some sleep then?" she asked. Myka nodded.

"So did you I see," she said as she clambered back onto the bed, hairbrush in hand. Helena held out her hand, asking for the hairbrush. Myka handed it to her then Helena gestured for her to turn around. Myka sat with her back to Helena, whose legs were either side of her. Helena took a lock of Myka's hair and started brushing it, carefully as not hurt her, but enough to get out the tangled knots. Myka relaxed as Helena repeated the reassuring, repetitive rhythm. "So," said Helena cautiously, "Are you going to tell me what happened?"

They both stayed silent for a while as Helena brushed Myka's hair; Myka trying to work out what to say, Helena just waiting for Myka to say something. She was patient, allowing Myka all the time she needed, it must have been something serious for her to be so upset. Myka took a deep breath. "I did something really stupid. I said something even more stupid!" she said solemnly. Helena stayed silent, still brushing away the knots, anticipating the rest of the story. "The Warehouse might be moving. We thought it was imminent, but now we think it might take a while. But it was a pretty stressful day, emotions were running high. We were all contributing our defining moments to the round table." She stopped and took another deep breath. She was glad that she wasn't looking at Helena, this was hard enough to say as it is. "I... well... Pete was upset so he had gone off somewhere, but the rest of us watched my moment, and Steve said that it looked like...well...it...I...it looked like I loved Pete." She squeezed her eyes closed, trying not to cry. "And I was just all caught up in it all. I don't know what I was thinking." Her breathing was ragged and uneven. Helena placed one hand on her shoulder to reassure her. "I kissed Pete. I told him that I loved him." She sighed, placing her hand on top of Helena's for moral support. "You should have seen his face Helena, he was so happy. I can't believe I did that to him." She shook her head at herself. "I think I've broke his heart." This was the last straw and she burst back into tears, sobbing into her hands. Helena held her tightly, allowing her to break down, safe in her arms.

Helena allowed Myka to cry for as long as she needed to, stroking her back. She tried to keep her own breathing stable so that hopefully Myka would copy it. Eventually her tears subsided, her breathing normalised and she looked up at Helena, silently begging for a response, a comment, an opinion. But Helena didn't know what to say. She moved around so that she could look into Myka's eyes; they were full of regret and humiliation. Helena took a deep slow breath, then, without thinking about it in case she changed her mind, she leaned in and kissed her. Myka was startled for a second, but then she kissed her back, deeply and passionately, entangling her hands in Helena's soft, silky hair.


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry for the long wait. Uni is rediculously busy at the moment. I hope you enjoy chapter 3. Reviews make me happy! (hint hint)**

After a long drive back to Helena's apartment in comfortable quiet, Myka sat at the breakfast bar and watched Helena cook. This woman fascinated her. She had adapted so seamlessly to this modern century; when you think of how much life has changes in the last 100 years, it is incredible. Here she was using an electric hob, a coffee machine, when in her own time she probably had people who cooked for her. Her apartment probably had more modern technology than your average one, none of it seemed to phase her. Myka admired her so much. Her mind wandered to the kiss in Minneapolis. Had that really happened? The whole past 48 hours had been utterly surreal. But she had kissed Helena. That had actually happened. She couldn't help but smile.

"What are you so happy about?" asked Helena as she chopped up a pepper. Myka looked up at her and held her gaze for a moment.

"You." she said simply. This made Helena smile too for a second. Then her face dropped slightly and she pulled up a stool next to Myka, reaching out to hold her hand. She'd just opened her mouth to speak when there was a violent knock on the door.

"Helena let me in!" an angry female voice shouted, "Please!" Helena jumped, and her and Myka both stared at the door in shock.

"It's Giselle," said Helena quietly, "I'm really sorry. I promise I won't be long." She got up, picked up her bag from the table and went out, closing the door behind her. Myka was left shell shocked. She wasn't really sure what was going on. She got up and chopped the rest of the vegetables, preparing them for a stir-fry, but then putting them, and the diced chicken, back into the fridge. Then she lay down on the sofa; she was shivering slightly so she pulled the soft woollen throw around her. She wondered when Helena would be back.

She must have dozed off, because she was startled awake by the door opening. Helena paused in the doorway, Myka looked up at her, questions written all over her face. Then Helena rushed over to the sofa, launching herself on top of Myka, her knees either side of her torso. She leaned down and kissed her, desperately and passionately, her hands framing Myka's face. Myka couldn't believe it. She softened into the kiss, savouring every moment, kissing her back intensely. Her hands found themselves brushing through Helena's hair, she loved how soft and silky it was. Eventually their lips parted, and Helena propped herself above Myka, looking down at her. "I love you Myka Bering." she said quietly but firmly, "This isn't something I've just realised now I've known it for years and I meant it. I love you." Myka started crying.

"I love you too." she whispered before reaching up for another kiss.

In South Dakota, the Warehouse team were now too busy to spend much time worrying about where Myka was. They'd spent most of the last week tracking a particularly nasty artifact. The reason that it was so difficult to track was that it looked like a perfectly ordinary dollar bill and whoever had it in their possession had absolutely no memory of the time that they had it or the few hours afterwards. This meant that everyone they interviewed was rather useless; most of them could work out where they had got the bill in the first place, but none of them knew where they had spent it. The whole team were getting rather frustrated; Myka being in the back of their minds didn't help much though. They had spent the last few days travelling across the country searching for the artifact, but now they were reconvened at the Warehouse to collate their evidence. Claudia was frantically typing everything they knew into the database in desperate search of a solid lead, but she was interrupted by a tuneful ding from the computer. She briefly glanced at the notification that popped on to the corner of her screen, but then she doubled back and looked again. She stopped typing and clicked on the message. It was from Myka. 'Please watch this together. Myka x' it read. Claudia called the others to gather around the computer.

"It's a video message from Myka," she said in disbelief.

"What?!" asked Pete as he rushed over to the monitor, his eyes widening. Him, Steve and Artie jostled for a view of the screen. Pete leaned over Claudia's shoulder to press play on the video.

"Hi guys," said Myka. She was sitting on a sofa, smiling. Pete was secretly a little bit disappointed that she looked so happy. "How are you all? I really hope you're well. I hope things at the Warehouse are going ok too, I'm sure they are." Then her voice dropped a little, "I miss you guys. And I'm really sorry, for everything. Especially to you Pete; I can't ever explain how sorry I am." She paused for a moment. "I'm taking another couple of weeks off, you lot can manage without me. I just wanted to check in. I'll see you soon." She smiled, then leaned over to turn off the camera.

The Warehouse team stood in silence, taking their time to process the message, none of them sure what to say. "I'm glad she's ok." said Pete, bravely. Steve looked at him, he could tell that he was telling the truth, but he could tell that it hurt too.

"Yeah," Claudia agreed with him, "and she'll be back soon."

"Sooo," said Karen, "You're the famous Myka then!" She smiled cheekily, Myka looked a little nervous. Helena had bought her for lunch in a little café with some of her friends. Lila and her boyfriend Karl both worked in the same lab as Helena, Zara lived near them and was a math teacher at the local high school, and Karen was an author and illustrator of children's books. Myka thought that they all seemed nice, but it was a little daunting, meeting Helena's friends just days after their relationship had become 'official'.

"Be nice Karen," teased Helena, looking at her meaningfully. Karen grinned at her.

"I am nice!" she insisted. The others giggled so she shot them a dirty look.

"So Myka," said Zara, "What do you do then? Helena's always been rather secretive about you." Myka smiled a little, squeezing Helena's hand under the table.

"I work for the Secret Service," she explained. The others looked impressed.

"And how did you meet this loony?" Lila asked, nudging Helena.

"If we told you that, we'd have to kill you!" said Helena mysteriously, grinning. Myka looked at her and laughed.

Steve and Claudia were in Wisconsin, on the trail of the pesky dollar bill artifact. They had tracked it to a tiny vintage clothes shop there but, even after interviewing several of the employees there, they weren't sure where it had gone next. Armed with a sketchy list of that day's customers, they set off to locate and interview as many of them as possible. As they crossed them one at a time off the list, Steve and Claudia were getting increasingly frustrated. "I need caffeine!" complained Claudia, pouting at Steve. He sighed, but parked the car outside a little café.

"What do you want then?," he asked as he climbed out of the car. He glanced around the café, it was empty apart from a single table of chattering people, laughing light-heartedly, and a woman talking to the waitress at the till. Just as the door closed behind them, Steve whipped his head around to look again at the group of people, something familiar had caught his attention.

"Careful Karl," one of the women said, "or Myka will profess her undying love of you!" she giggled, nudging Myka in the side. Myka too laughed, finally able to see the funny side of it all.

"She'd better not!" Helena said as she carried two more coffees back from the till.

"Never again my love." Myka leaned up and kissed Helena as she sat down.

"Oh get a room you two!" one of the other women moaned. Myka and Helena blushed and everyone laughed.

Steve was frozen to the spot just inside the door, staring at them. One of the women gave him a weird look that shocked him out of his dazed state. "M...M...Myka?" he stuttered. Everyone at the table whipped their head to look at him. There she was, staring straight back at him, her eyes suddenly wide. They all sat there in silence for what felt like ages, but then Myka stood up and slowly walked over to him. "Steve," she said, in shock, "what are you doing here?"

"On a mission," he said, quietly "Claudia's in the car. Why are you here?"

"I...Urm...Well..." she looked over at Helena, speechless. They could hear the people at the table whispering to each other.

"Is that him?" one of the women asked Helena quietly. Helena shook her head.

"We all miss you," said Steve, "When are you coming back?"

"Soon," said Myka after a pause, "I promise." She took a deep breath. "How's Pete?" she asked tentatively. Steve wasn't quite sure how to answer that.

"He's...he's ok I guess. Sad, of course. But he's doing alright given the circumstances."

"And how will he be when I come back?" she looked scared as she asked.

"You'll have to talk to him. He deserves to know..." he glanced at Helena, "He deserves to know the whole story." Myka nodded. Steve's phone buzzed, interrupting their conversation. "It's Claudia wondering where her coffee is." Myka gave him a hug, squeezing him tightly.

"I'll see you soon. I promise," she said, "Good luck!" She went back to the table and sat down next to Helena, resting her head on her shoulder for comfort. Pete bought two coffees and took them back to the car. He didn't tell Claudia what had happened.


End file.
